June 11, 2015

Clip & Create :: Rebecca Luminarias

We love the concept that Rebecca Luminarias came up with for using leftover random tidbits–it's something most creative types enjoy doing when bumping into cute, keepable combinations created on the fly. Great ideas come and go-stockpiling them in one place for future use is genius.

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REBECCA LUMINARIAS: When I'm making projects, I will inevitably collect random bits and pieces that I love but that don't make it onto the current project. So I pin them onto a clipboard, which I hang on the wall, and as the collection grows, I'll eventually re-visit it and try to make a new project out of the cluster of embellishments that has accumulated. My most recent clipboard was born from Journey and the idea of 'letting go' of fear and anxiety and just being free. It's not necessarily about taking a vacation, but more of a pep talk for myself on the way I'd like to start living my life.

So I went from the organized pile of encouragement to these cards and tags...It was an awesome way to work, too, because while I've been collecting items on the clipboard for awhile, I had 2 cards and 2 tags made from them in under an hour, and for me, that's unheard of! But just about everything I needed was right there! When we received word of the clipboard assignment, I knew right away that this would be my project and so I would look up at my board on the wall from time to time and mentally put different things together.

This card almost made itself. I made the 'go' tag during my last Journey project but didn't end up using it. At the time, I coupled it with the 'have more adventures' acetate tag and loved them together, but wasn't making anything with the set that I loved so they got pinned to the board. I returned to them a few weeks later for this project, and they turned into a card in about 5 minutes! Don't lose faith!

That said, most of the other pieces didn't turn out at all like what I had envisioned. These tags, for instance, were not going to be tags and I had planned to use the 'let's go' phrase on a card with the 'explore' wood piece. In the end, I separated them into tags and I like them better this way.

Incidentally, I've had this cluster of notched tags (as seen below on the 'let's go' tag) clipped together with that same Craft Market mini clothespin since April! Those items were clearly meant for each other.

I had the idea that I was going to use the red and white plus-sign paper and the die cut feather garland with the wood frame, but you see how that worked out. This card turned out nothing like the way I originally intended, but that's the fun part of creating, I think--letting your ideas run wild on you because you might be (happily) surprised where they lead.

A rough coat of white acrylic paint brightens the cork letters here. Aside from a few outside decorations like glitter tape and doilies, I challenged myself to stick to using only items that were on the clipboard. That also helped make the work go quickly since I've been known to spend an embarrassing amount of time gathering embellishments.

I didn't get to using everything on the clipboard so I began a new one...and I like it already. I love that it hangs on my wall, growing and changing, inspiring me for future ideas and projects.